Top Republican Presses For Answers On Obamacare Website Problems From Google, Microsoft And Others

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican chairman of a key
congressional oversight committee has asked Google, Microsoft and
three other U.S. companies to provide details on their possible
involvement in a "tech surge" aimed at fixing a website
implementing President Barack Obama's signature healthcare
law.

Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee, made the request in a letter to Google,
Microsoft, Verizon Enterprise Solutions, Oracle and Expedia,
committee spokeswoman Caitlin Carroll said.

Issa, a relentless critic of the Obama administration, wants
information on contacts the companies may have had with
the White House about the Healthcare.gov website by
Friday. Carroll called it the first step of a "rolling inquiry"
that could include other companies.

The five named companies were selected because of press reports
about their potential involvement in fixing the website, Carroll
said.

Google and Verizon declined to comment on the letter. Microsoft,
Oracle and Expedia could not be immediately reached for comment.

Republicans, long opposed to the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known
as "Obamacare," have started their own congressional
investigation about the role of the White House in the
October 1 rollout of the website, which serves 36 states and is
meant to help the uninsured determine their eligibility for tax
credits toward buying private coverage under Obamacare.

Only a trickle of users so far have been able to advance through
the enrollment process on the website.

The Department of Health and Human Services said at the
weekend it was launching a "tech surge" for the website, but
neither it nor the White House has provided details
about the cause of the problems, precisely what is being done to
fix them and who exactly is doing the fixing.

Obama, who said on Monday that he was frustrated by the website's
problems, turned on Tuesday to trusted adviser Jeffrey
Zients to lead the surge.

Zients, who will become head of the National Economic
Council in January, will provide short-term management
advice and counsel on the project, HHS Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius said in a blog posting.

She said a team of experts and specialists drawn from government
and industry, "including veterans of top Silicon Valley
companies," also would work to diagnose and repair the website's
problems.

In his letter, a copy of which was provided to Reuters, Issa
complained of a dearth of information about the project.

"Despite the President's assertion that 'we're well into a "tech
surge"' neither the White Housenor HHS is providing
additional details about which private sector companies have been
engaged or whether they are being engaged through the appropriate
procurement processes," Issa said in the letter.

"Your company has, however, been prominently mentioned in public
discussion related to HealthCare.gov," Issa said.

He asked that the companies indicate in writing by Friday what
contacts they have had with the administration or "any entity"
working on the website project, and for a "specific description
of any and all problems brought to your attention."

At least two other congressional committees are investigating the
glitches and whether the administration was forthright about the
problems. Several contractors are due to appear at a hearing on
Thursday about their work on the website.